The Government of Karnataka takes immense pride in announcing the “Karnataka Startup Policy 2015-2020” with the aim of encouraging new innovations and technologies across the State. To enable the Karnataka Startup Ecosystem, a dedicated Council headed by the Hon’ble Chief Minister and a Monitoring & Review Committee Headed by the Chief Secretary have been constituted. Karnataka Startup Cell has been set up to address the needs and demands of the rapidly expanding Startup Community and promote Karnataka’s Startup Ecosystem.

To effectively engage with key stakeholders in the ecosystem, the Hon’ble Minister, IT, BT and Tourism shall host Startup Karnataka Open House, a monthly event where 15 startups shall be selected from online applications to have a one on one meeting with the Minister and Senior Officials of the Department.

Shri Siddaramaiah

Hon’ble Chief Minister,
Government of Karnataka

Chief Minister’s Message

Bengaluru achieved the status of IT capital of India over 15 years ago. The city has emerged as the 2nd largest technology cluster, with a large number of organizations engaged in software development, R & D, analytics, high-end computing, global in-house back office operations etc. The State of Karnataka has given over 4,600 tech Startups to the country.

The Startup Policy unveiled in November, 2015, aims at creating 20,000 tech Startups by 2020, creating about 6 lakh direct and 12 lakh indirect jobs. We hope to generate atleast 25 innovative tech solutions with a social impact in the sectors of healthcare, education, food security and clean environment. It is hoped that the fund-of-funds proposed to be set-up by the State Government will mobilize atleast Rs. 2,000 crores for funding investments in Startups.

Minister’s Message

Bengaluru is the startup capital of India and we take immense pride in the fact that Bengaluru fosters the youngest entrepreneurs in the world and is also the world’s fastest growing startup ecosystem. Perhaps, we are the only State Government who are nurturing the ecosystem with strong policies like the i4 Policy, BT Millennium Policy, ESDM Policy and the KAVGC Policy, giving the ecosystem a strong foundation to help entrepreneurs and the established industries to flourish.

We are also the first in the country to launch a dedicated Start Up Policy for budding entrepreneurs and a dedicated Start Up Cell that will provide extensive services like legal and accounting advice, mentoring, incubator options, subsidized tariffs and also seed funding.

The Government of Karnataka is committed to provide the most conducive environment for investments and acceleration across all verticals to ensure we remain the leaders in technology and innovation.

Shri Priyank Kharge

Hon’ble Minister for IT, BT and Tourism,
Government of Karnataka

Gaurav Gupta, IAS

Principal Secretary,
Department of IT BT,
Government of Karnataka

Principal Secretary’s Message

Karnataka has a conducive ecosystem that has contributed to the growth of Information Technology, Electronics manufacturing, Biotechnology, Animation and other knowledge-based industry in the State.

This ecosystem has also contributed to Karnataka and Bengaluru growing to be one of the 20 best Startup ecosystems in the world. The Government of Karnataka has been taking many proactive steps to encourage new Entrepreneurs. The State was the forerunner in introducing funding through KITVEN-I to small enterprises, much before funding support for Startups has become the focus of the day.

In order to strengthen the existing ecosystem in Bengaluru as well as to create a similar stimulating environment in two tier cities, Government of Karnataka came up with a multi-sector Startup Policy in November, 2015. This Policy consolidates a number of initiatives which the Government has already been implementing in IT and BT sectors, and expects to promote similar growth in other manufacturing sectors especially in high technology areas.

The Startup portal is proposed to be used to disseminate information on government policies, act as a collaborative platform for interaction between all stakeholders, and facilitate Startups to access various incentives and benefits.

Startup Council

Karnataka has become the first state to have a dedicated under startup council the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka. The startup council works on the Karnataka Startup Policy to provide easy clearances, besides having a dedicated set of officials to deal with needs of emerging businesses. The Council shall review the status report on the implementation of the policy, which would include an appraisal of usefulness, ease of implementation and outcomes of the policy, commissioned every year by the implementing Departments and take necessary decisions for improving the implementation. The council shall meet at least once a year.

The Director, International Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru (IIIT-B)

Member

The Director, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

Member

The Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru (NCBS)

Member

The Director, Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBAB)

Member

The Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka

Chairman

The Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner

Member

The Prinicipal Secretary to Government, IT, BT and S&T Department

Member

The Commissioner for Industrial Development and Director of Industries & Commerce

Member

The Director, IBAB, Bengaluru

Member

The Managing Director, KBITS

Convener

Sri Ravi Gururaj, Chairman, NASSCOM Product Council, Bengaluru

Member

Sri Sharad Sharma, Co- Founder, iSPIRT

Member

The State Government has constituted the Vision Group on Biotechnology under the chairmanship of Dr.Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Founder & CMD, Biocon Ltd. The constituted Vision Group on Biotechnology will continue to suggest ways to harness biotechnology for the betterment of society and overall economic development. The vision Group will suggest Policy initiatives to be taken by the State Government for the promotion and development of Biotechnology in the State of Karnataka.

The Vision Group on Information Technology shall make specific recommendations to State Government on suitable course of action to be taken for implementation of various initiatives for the growth and development of ICT, Electronics and Startups in the State.

Mr. S Gopalkrishnan (Kris)

Co-Founder & Ex-Executive Vice Chairman, Infosys Ltd

Chairman

Mr. Gaurav Gupta, IAS

Principal Secretary to Government, Dept. of IT, BT and S & T,GoK

Member

Mr.Vijay Ratnaparkhe

Managing Director, BOSCH

Member

Shri Krishnakumar Natarajan

CEO & MD, Mindtree

Member

Mr.M.N.Vidyashankar

President, IESA

Member

Shri P.K Das

Director, STPI

Member

Shri.R.Chandrasekaran

Excecutive Vice Chairman, Cognizant

Member

Prof.Sadgopan

Director, IIIT-B

Member

Mr.T.K. Kurien

CEO, IT Business & Excecutive Director, WIPRO

Member

Mr.Pravin Rao

Chief Operating Officer, Infosys

Member

Dr.H. Maheshappa

Vice-Chancellor, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgavi

Member

Prof.Swapan Bhattacharya

Director, NITK, Suratkal

Member

Mr. Jayant R. Haritsa

Senior Professor Supercomputer Education and Research Centre (SERC) and Department of Computer Science and Automation(CSA), Indian Institute of Science(IISc) Bangalore, India